


Starting from Scratch

by Urdnot Wrecks (Urdnot_Wrecks)



Category: The Technomancer (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22437484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urdnot_Wrecks/pseuds/Urdnot%20Wrecks
Summary: Zach and Andrew are talking food...
Relationships: Andrew Mancer | Lucky/Zachariah Mancer
Kudos: 3
Collections: Hello Earth? This Is Mars...





	Starting from Scratch

Zach and Andrew are talking food; it’s not something they talk about much. Andrew loves his food, but, for Zach, it’s no more than a source of energy.

“So you’ve never eaten anything you thought was truly delicious?”  
“Not really... well... there was one special time. Sean took me to this café, first time I was allowed to leave the Source after the Accident.  
“Quite a formal place; seems to have vanished now, no idea where it was. In fact, thinking back, I can’t see how they could possibly have got things like the cream they put in their cakes. Suspect Anton must have been involved somehow.  
“But in the middle of the café window was this incredible chocolate cake, quite a lot of it already sold... Layer upon layer of rich cake, each sandwiched with this creamy chocolate icing. I think my eyes must have popped at the sight.  
“Sean saw that and smiled. Got me a piece of the cake. Tasted special because I was well enough to be up and about, and in Sean’s company... but I suspect it tasted good, anyway.  
“A long, long time has passed since then... But my mouth’s watering now, thinking about it after all those years... So yeah, maybe I’d say that cake was truly delicious.  
“Still not sure those cookery lessons of yours are going to be much use, Andrew. Unless you can produce me a cake like that! But if they keep us fed, they’re good. And if they make you happy... well, that’s more important.”

“Think they’ll do both. Used to cook when I was a child, when I was still with my birth family. Want to start cooking again: getting fed up with Mancer ration packs and molemeat bars. Need something better to keep me going! You do, too... you just don’t realise it yet.  
“I was never near a kitchen once I reached the Source, of course. And... well, let’s say nothing at all about my time with Marcello.  
“But yes, I’m going to learn. Starting from scratch. I don’t know any of the ingredients in the Valley: there are a few spices I recognise, there is chocolate, but the plants and the animal cuts? I’d seen them in some places in Noctis, but I have absolutely no idea how to prepare them.  
“And very different technique. My dad was a merchant, so we had scales in our kitchen; he used them to weigh goods for sale. Valley kitchens don’t have them. So it’s very much cooking by eye, by taste, by intuition.  
“But I think I’ve found myself a good teacher. Phobos suggested her: old former mutant slave. She remembers being in a kitchen all her life. As a baby, she was strapped in a sling by her mother working in the kitchen; she vividly remembers odd bits of food finding their way to her mouth.  
“Wasn’t supposed to happen, of course, but her mother was too valuable a slave for her owners to lose, so she had a little... flexibility.

“They took her from her mother when she was just a kid, and sold her.

“Her new owners, knowing her parentage, kept her as a kitchen slave, too. Working long hard hours at that age? Just don’t know how she survived. Must have been as strong then as she is now.  
“She remembers climbing up the kitchen chimney to clean it, fetching pots and pans from the low cupboards that weren’t handy for the adults. A kindly cook took her under her wing (carefully; she was a slave herself) and let her start doing a little cooking. Turned out she had a real aptitude for it.  
“Once when her protector was injured (she’d been beaten senseless for something completely trivial), she found herself having to cook for a party of visiting officials. And that’s when her talent was finally recognised.  
“Even when she’d graduated to her own kitchen, she had no control over ingredients: had to use whatever was available. Made her flexible and practical; that’s useful around these parts.  
“Then a tiny episode that changed everything: huge mutant arrived with a sack of provisions. Mutant named Phobos... need I say more? She started, very carefully, working underground with the mutant rebels. Could sneak out small amounts of food to the needy, occasionally provide a fugitive with a place to hide.  
“She finally escaped Ophir in the slave rebellion that was part of Viktor’s downfall. Had I been her, I’d never have wanted to cook again.  
“Mentioned this to her, and she said that, yes, she hoped never to set foot in a kitchen again; but she’s found a way to cook that suits her. Working in collaboration, not having one person running things. Everyone in the kitchen contributing ideas, work, sharing the food afterward.  
“And have I mentioned how wonderful her food is? Your birthday’s coming up in a month or so... see if I can make you something special by then.  
“You said you liked that chocolate cake, no? Hmm... I’ll see what I can do. Not going to be too similar to that, I’d have thought... needs equipment we don’t have, like thermostatic ovens, machined tins and scales.”

Andrew’s briefly out of the shack when Zach gets home on his birthday, and sees... a stack of cocoa pancakes, layered with, and covered in, a thick chocolate cream sauce...

Andrew returns to find Zach tucking heartily into the “cake”, the sauce dripping from his fingers and spreading all round his mouth.  
And when Andrew finally persuades Zach to say something, all he gets in reply is the single word, “Delicious.”

**Author's Note:**

> A piece for the second “Hello Earth? This is Mars...” ’zine. As always, many thanks to [Wahlbuilder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WahlBuilder/pseuds/WahlBuilder) and all the authors there; and to the lovely folk of (what was formerly) the Technomancer Discord


End file.
